Hotline of power engineering specialists:
IDGC of Centre’s employees honour the immortal feat of heroes who defended the independence of our Motherland during the Great Patriotic War. Power engineers not only take care of veterans who are still alive, but also help preserve the memory of those who fell on the battlefields. The subject of their attention, in particular, are memorial structures, military graves, objects of military glory. They beautify them, clean the surrounding territory, provide power supply.
By tradition, large work is performed on the eve of 9 May, when memorable places are prepared for holding festive events. The 72nd anniversary of the Great Victory is no exception.
Thus, employees of Rakityansky Distribution Zone of Belgorodenergo on the eve of the holiday put in order the grave and the memory garden of their compatriot, the full Cavalier of the Order of Glory Alexander Pisklov, located in the village of Soldatskoye and the settlement of Rakitnoye in Rakityansky district of the region. Sergeant Pisklov was awarded for bold and decisive action in the battles near the Polish city of Debica, on the Sandomierz bridgehead on the left bank of the Vistula River and in Germany on the west bank of the Oder in 1944-1945. It is interesting that the garden in honour of the hero was laid in 2012 on the initiative of employees of Rakitiansky Distribution Zone, who offered to preserve the memory of the merits of this outstanding man – a war veteran and honoured employee of the Belgorod power system.
Similar activities were carried out in other production divisions of Belgorodenergo. In Prokhorovsky district, where the largest tank battle took place during the war, the power engineers cleared and cleaned the memorial of the Military Glory established on the mass grave of 135 Soviet soldiers in the village of Krasnoye, and in Valuisky district they put things in order at the mass grave where women and children were buried, who were shot by fascists in 1942.
Employees of Shebekinsky Distribution Zone of the Belgorod branch not only improved, but also connected to networks the memorial complex of the Great Patriotic War on the outskirts of the village of Rzhavets. The complex was built in memory of fighters of the 72nd, 226th-95th and 213th Guards Infantry Divisions and anti-aircraft gunners of the 5th Bratislava Artillery Division, who participated in fierce battles unfolding in the summer of 1943 in the framework of the Battle of Kursk in Shebekinsky district. On the commemorative plaque the names of three particularly distinguished participants in those battles are carved, who were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union: Senior Sergeant Alexander Zuborev, Guard Lieutenant Vladimir Kolesnikov and Guard Sergeant Vasily Kuznetsov. To organize the lighting of the site in front of the monument, the power engineers installed two metal poles with energy-saving lamps, floodlights for lighting memorial plates and laid 130 metres of a cable power line.
"Such events are a good tradition for IDGC of Centre’s power engineers. Year after year, forgotten monuments in remote settlements are upgraded and acquire a new life. Heroes should not be forgotten, and we try to do everything possible to prevent this from happening," said the chief of Shebekinsky Distribution Zone Andrey Abrosimov.
In the Smolensk branch of the company representatives of the Youth Council took part in the improvement of the first burial place of the Hero of the Soviet Union, the partisan-demolisher Vladimir Kurilenko. He was buried in the village of Vystavka in Demidovsky district of the Smolensk region, and after, in 1947, his ashes were transported to Smolensk and reburied near the fortress wall, in the Square of Heroes’ Memory.
"I believe that everyone’s duty is to take care of the historical heritage of their native land. This is especially important when it comes to the events of the Great Patriotic War. Our task is to convey the memory of the heroic deed of our people to future generations, not allowing distortions and misinterpretations," shared the chairman of Smolenskenergo’s Youth Council Alexey Magon.
Among the monuments put in order by Lipetskenergo’s specialists are the monuments to the Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General Ivan Zhemchuzhnikov in the Pokrovo-Kazatsky rural village in Lebedyansky district, a commemorative sign to the lost pilots of the 874th regiment, who took part in battles on the Kursk Bulge, in the village of Izmalkovo in Izmalkovsky district, a brotherly burial in the village of Kon-Kolodez in Khlevensky district, as well as the legendary height 194.0 "Cucumber" located in Volovskiy district, in the battles for which, according to various estimates, up to 5 thousand Red Army fighters died. The power engineers cleared the territory of each of the sites from debris, whitewashed trees, planted new seedlings. And employees of Klintsovsky Distribution Zone of Bryanskenergo put in order a monument to the families of the partisans, who were shot by fascists in 1943, and the territory adjacent to the memorial site.
More than 100 military graves and memorials on the eve of 9 May were brought in order by employees of the Kursk branch. Among them there is a monument to the legendary pilot, thrice Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Kozhedub in Medvensky district and a monument to the Unknown Hero in Solntsevsky district. Employees of Ponyrovsky Distribution Zone of Kurskenergo within the framework of the program "Green Distribution Zone" launched in April in all IDGC of Centre’s branches, together with representatives of local public organizations, planted birch and arborvitae trees on the Power Engineers’ Alley and the Heroes’ Alley in the settlement of Ponyri on the northern facet of the Kursk Bulge. Both the alleys were laid earlier within IDGC of Centre’s projects "Save the energy of the forest" and "The history of one feat".
